Prep Track: Rockford Christian rolls to own invitational title

ROCKFORD — The Rockford Christian boys track team not only won its own nine-team invitational title Saturday, it did so in dominating — and record-setting — fashion.

The Royals went 1-2-3-4 in the 1,600-meter run, went 1-2-5 in the 800 and got second and third in three other events, reeling in 179 points to smash the old meet record. The Royals scored 152 points while winning their own invite in 2011, the same year they went on to place third as a team at the Class 1A state meet.

And while head coach Randy Moore could tell this year’s squad was again stacked, he didn’t see this one coming.

“I was hopeful we could win it, and we could look good doing it, but I didn’t expect to run off with it like this,” Moore said of the 78-point gap between the Royals and second-place Christian Life. “We had a really good day — a really good day. We outperformed our expectations in so many places.”

One was in the 1,600, where Nick Monkemeyer (4 minutes, 40.75 seconds) led the charge and Steven Rierson (4:47.76), David Mecklenburg (5:01.51) and Noah Wells (5:03.91) all fell in line behind him.

“Come April, when the weather is finally breaking, the postseason comes up on you fast, and these are the kind of meets you need to use to get yourself ready,” said Monkemeyer, who ran his fastest time of the year Saturday. “Today was a big day for our team. We definitely accomplished a lot, and what we did — here in the mile, and in the whole meet — speaks to the depth and how scary fast we’re going to be when the end of the season rolls around.”

The Royals’ Brian Smith (2:08.55) and Jack Smith (2:09.92) hauled in the top two spots in the 800 run and their teammate Michael Risum, seeded third headed in to the 400 dash, won with a personal-best time of 53.83.

Christian Life’s Rodney Quansah won both the 100 (11.72) and the 200 (23.75), while Michael Ford squeaked out a win in the shot put (43 feet, 10 1/2 inches) to help his team finish a distant second. North Boone got a boost from Chris Walker, who won the high jump (6-foot, fewest misses), the long jump (18-4 1/2) and the triple jump (42-9), to take third with 95 points, and led by two-event winner Alex Thayer, Pec/Durand came in right behind the Vikings in fourth (93).

Auburn girls win

Led by Janelle Ferguson and Abriana Pettigrew, Auburn locked down 102 points in Saturday’s Rockford Christian invite, holding off the hosts by 16 points. Ferguson won the 800 (2:25.24) and the 1,600 (5:36.24) and Pettigrew anchored the winning 800-relay team (1:54.22) and then won the 400 (1:04.33) one race later.

“These were good races for me right now; they were tough,” said Ferguson, who was pushed by Hinckley-Big Rock’s Audrey Harrod in each event. “Next week it gets even tougher at Woodstock, and then everything starts to come up on us fast — conference, sectional, state. It’s time to make sure you’re ready.”

Rockford Christian’s Payton Jones won the 100 (12.75) and took second in the 200 (26.81) behind Christian Life’s Courtney Sockwell (26.71), who was second in the 100 (12.79). The Royals’ Taylor Smith stepped it up as well, setting a meet record with a win in the 300 intermediate hurdles (48.44), locking down a personal-best time of 17.00 to win the 100 hurdles and winning the high jump (5-feet).

The home team also stood out in the throws, where Jackie Lindquist won the shot put (34-3) and took second in the discus (95-2). Christian Life’s Erin Farley won both the long (16-0) and triple (33-1) jumps.

Oregon hangs on

The hosts hung on to win Saturday’s Oregon Girls Invitational by one point over Chicago DeLaSalle, and Byron came in third, Genoa-Kingston placed fifth, Winnebago seventh, and Lena-Winslow eighth, while Dakota and Jefferson rounded out the top-10.

Byron’s Kelsey Hildreth set two meet records, rolling to wins with times of 5:11.15 in the 1,600 and 10:37.19 in the 3,200, and her teammate Challen Jackson won the 200 dash and placed second in the 400. Oregon’s Cydney Long won both of the hurdle races, Shannon Cullen swept the throws, and the Hawks were able to cling to the 15-team invite title.

Jay Taft: 815-987-1384; jtaft@rrstar.com; @jaytaft

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